The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-06-16
HUSHING THE TEMPEST.
Dr. Talmage's Sermon at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

Late Rev. John Livingston.
BROOKLYN, June 5.-The Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, D. D., preached in the
tabernacle this morning a sermon entitled
"The Tempest" Service began with the
exposition of appropriate passages of
Scripture, after which the great congrega-
ton sang the hymn:
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home"
The text was Mark iv. $3.50, describing
Christ stilhng the tempest. He said:
Tiberias, Galilee, Gennesaret = three
names for the same lake. No other gem
ever had so beautiful setting. 1t lay in
scene Of great luxuriance: the surround
ing hills high, terraced, sloped, groved, so
many hanging gardens of beauty, the
waters rumbling down between rocks OF
gray and red limestone, flashing from the
hiIls and bounding into the sea. On the
shore were castles, armed towers, Roman
baths, everything attractive and beautiful;
all styles of vegetation in shorter space
than in almost any other space in all the
world, from the palm tree of the forest to
the trees of rigorous climate.
1t seemed as if the Lord had launched
one wave of beauty on all the scene, and
it hung and swung from rock and hill and
oleander. Roman gentlemen in pleasure
boats sailing the lake, and countrymen in
fish smacks coming down to drop their
nets, pass each other with nod and shout
and laughter, or swinging idly at their
moorings. Oh, what a wonderful, what a
beautiful L. ke!
1t seems as if we shall have quiet
night Not lear winked in the air; not a
ripple disturbed the face of Gennesaret;
but there seems to be little excitement up
the beach, and we hasten to see what it is,
and we find it an embarkation.
From the western shore a fiotilla push
ing out, not squad'1 or deadly arma-
ment, nor clipp with valuable mer-
chandise, nor p'r@ic vessels ready to
destroy everythi'S 'bey could seize, but
fiotilla bearing essengers of life and
light and peace. Christ is in the front of
the boat His disciples are in a smaller
boat. Jesus, weary with much speaking to
large multitudes, is put into somnolence
by the rocking of the waves. If there was
any motion at all the ship was easily
righted; if the wind passed from starboard
to larboard, or from larboard To starboard,
the boat would rock, and by the gentleness
of the motion putting the Master asleep.
And they extemporized pillow made out
of fisherman's coat. think no sooner is
Christ PROSTATE, and His head touched the
pillow, than He is sound asleep. The
breezes of the lake run their fingers through
the locks of the worn sleeper, and the boat
rises and falls like sleeping child on the
bosom of sleeping mother.
Calm night, starry night, beautiful
night. Run up all the sails, ply all the
oars, and let the large boat and the small
boat glide over gentle Gennesaret. But
the sailors say there is goingto be change
of vuaofhar And avaO fha ooccan e,arc oon
hear the moaning of the storm, as it comes
on with great stride, and all the terrors of
hurricane and darkness. The large boat
trembles like deer at bay among the
clangor of the hounds; great patches of
foam are flung into the air; the sails of the
vessel loosen, and the sharp winds crack
like pistols; the smaller boats, like petrels,
poise on the cliff of the waves and then
plunge.
Overheard go cargo, tackling, and masts,
and the drenched disciples rush into the
back part of the boat, and lay hold Of
Christ, and say unto Him: Master, carest
Thou not that we perish?" That great per-
sonage lifts His head from the pillow Of
the isherman's coat, walks to the front of
the vessel, and looks out into the storm.
All around Him are the smaller boats,
driven in the tempest, and through it comes
the cry of drowning men. BY the flash of
the lightning see the calm brow of Christ
as the spray dropped from His beard. He
has one word for the sky and another for
the waves. Looking upward He cries:
"Peace." Looking downward He says:
"Be STILL"
The waves fall fiat on their faces, the
foam melts, the extinguished stars reIight
their torches. The tempest falls dead, and
Christ stands with His feet on the neck of
the storm. And while the sailors are bail
ing out the boats and while they are trying
to untangle the cordage the disciples stand
in amazement, now looking into the calm
sea, then into the calm sky, then into the
calm Saviours countenance, and they cry
out: "What manner of man is this, that
even the winds and the sea obey him2"
The subject in the first place impresses
me with the fact that it is very important
to have Christ with the ship; for all those
boats would have gone to the bottom of
Gennesaret if Christ had not been present.
Oh, what lesson for you and for me to
Learnt We must always have Christ in the
ship. Whatever voyage we undertake, into
whatever enterprise we start, let us always
have Christ in the ship. Many of you in
these days of revived commerce are start
ing out in new financial enterprises. bid
you good cheer. Do all you can do. Do
1t on as high plane as possible. You
have no right to be stoker in the ship If
you can be an admiral of the navy. You
have no right to be colonel of regiment
If you can command a brigade; you have
no right to be engineer of boat on river
banks or near the coast if you can take the
ocean steamer from New York to Liver
pool. All you can do with utmost tension
of body, mind, and soul you are bound TO
do; but ohl have Christ in every enter
prise, Christ in every voyage, Christ in
every ship.
There are men here who ask God to
help them at the start of great enterprises.
He has been with them in the past; no
trouble can overthrow them; the storms
might come down from the top of Mount
Hermon and lash Gennesaret into foam
and into agony, but it could not hurt them.
But here is another man who starts out
In worldly enterprise and he depends upon
the uncertainties of this life. He has no
God to help him. After a while the storm
comes and tosses off the masts of the ship;
he puts out his lifeboat and the long boat;
the Sheriff and the auctioneer try to help
him off; they can't help him off; he must
90 down; no Christ In the ship. Here are
young men just starting out in life. Your
life Will be made up Of sunshine and
shadow. There may be in cit arctic blasts
or tropical tornadoes; know not what is
before you, but know if you have Christ
with you all shall be well.
You may seem to get along without the
religion of Christ while everything goes
smoothly, but after awhile, when sorrow
hovers over the soul, when the waves of
trial dash clear over the hurricane deck
and the decks are crowded with piratical
disasters oh, what would you do then
trithnI1t Christ in The shin2 Ynnnn man